Concord-Carlisle High School principal explains move

Concord-Carlisle High School Principal Peter Badalament released a statement Thursday explaining the school’s reasoning behind reciting a poem about a Muslim ritual and not reciting the Pledge of Allegiance during Wednesday’s observance of the 12th anniversary of Sept 11.

"We had the well-being of students at the forefront of our thinking when we chose to acknowledge 9/11 by reading a poem that focused on cross-cultural understanding rather than unsettling words and images associated with the event," Badalament said.

According to Badalament, the poem "My Grandmother Washes her Feet in the Sink of the Bathroom at Sears," written by Mohja Kahf, was read over the school’s intercom on Wednesday, Sept. 11, Wicked Local reported.

He said several parents have said they are upset about the poem being read and added that a rumor is going around that this poem was a “Muslim prayer.”

"To be clear it was not," he said.

According to the Poetry Foundation, an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture, Kahf was born in Damascus, Syria and her family moved to the United States in 1971. She earned her Ph..D. in comparative literature from Rutgers University.

The Poetry Foundation said that Kahf’s poetry is an "amalgam of both Syrian and American influences."

The poem is about Kahf’s grandmother washing her feet in the sink of the bathroom at Sears department store so she would not miss the mandatory prayer time for Muslims.

Badalament said in addition to receiving calls about the poem, he also received calls from unhappy parents about the Pledge of Allegiance not being recited on Wednesday.

Badalament said the pledge is read every day at CCHS and because yesterday was the first Wednesday of the school year, the school was unaware that its student pledge reader had an internship commitment that day and couldn’t recite the pledge.

"This was our responsibility to know," he said. "We humbly apologize that this oversight and communication gap occurred.”

He continued to say the school will integrate the feedback it has been offered into its future work with students.

"We remain committed to integrating an inclusive and positive culture for all members of the school community," Badalament said.

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